


Untitled Story (I'll think of one later)

by Astralnature



Category: Ego - Fandom - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: I Don't Even Know, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 11:33:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19945483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astralnature/pseuds/Astralnature
Summary: Idk what this is yet. I've been working on this on and off for about half a year. It's going somewhere. All I know is that the Egos are up to some shit.





	1. Party People

Annoyed, you finally allowed yourself to be dragged to the party. You hated these things, but your friend desperately didn’t want to go alone. They promised you that they’d only stay two hours and then you could leave. 

You were entering the third hour and still couldn’t find your friend. Bored and annoyed, you went outside. You figured that you would give them another hour before calling a taxi. Thank god you insisted on bringing your full wallet instead of just your ID.

Once outside, you wandered over to a table and laid down on it. Despite being able to still hear the music from inside, the walls of the building muffled it enough that it still felt peaceful out here. The night was cool and clear, making it not uncomfortable to lay there and stare at the sky.

It was hard to see the stars from all the light pollution, but it was still pretty. If nothing else, it gave you something to look at while you listened to the sounds around you.

Even over the music, you could hear traffic in the distance, its dull roar calling a lullaby that you wanted to ignore. Sounds of fake laughter and drunken chatter could also be heard, making you only more interested in being not-inside.

You heard footsteps headed your way and you tilted your head to look at the person headed your way. You had texted your friend to let them know where to find you, so you were only disappointed that it wasn’t them. This person, however, came over and plopped down on a chair beside your table.

“Don’t mind me. I just finally found the table of people who don’t want to be here and figured that I could use this sanctuary to nap,” the man said, putting his head in his arms and staying there. “You’ll protect me from the werewolves, right?” he asked, never lifting his head.

“Nope, if the werewolves find us, it’s every looser for themselves. But I’ll promise not to trip you, fair enough?” you quipped, assuming this man just wanted to find some solace too. Apparently you had found the only table outside.

“Aww, but I thought we had a connection,” he teased, his muttering barely audible between the yawns and the table.

“Nope, no connection. If you want a connection, you could split a taxi fare with me.” You turned back to the sky.

“Wait, really?” he asked, his head snapping up from the table.

Ever the god of eloquence, you queried him with a “Huh?” as you jumped from his sudden movement.

“You’ll split a taxi with me?” he asked. “Where do you live?”

“South of here?” you answered, cautious about giving this stranger the directions to your house. 

“Oh, fuck yeah,” he cheered. “Lemme call my friend and tell him I’m leaving.” He stood up and took a step away, pulling out his cell phone.

Curious, but not questioning your luck, you took your phone out too and texted your friend, letting them know you were getting a taxi and leaving. You were surprised when you realized that it was almost your cut off time for them anyway.

“No, no, I’m getting a cab,” you heard the guy explain to his friend. “Uh…” he turned to look at you, his face already apologizing for what he was about to say, “no, I am not being a party pooper. I actually met someone and am going home with them.” He mouthed the word sorry as he listened and you shrugged. 

You could hear their friend on the phone and could tell from here that whatever they were saying was a mixture of pride and disbelief. “Their name?” he asked, panic in their eyes as they looked at you.

Inwardly groaning, you motioned him closer as you quickly said out loud for him in the drunkest voice you could fake, “You forgot my name already? But what will you be screaming later if you don’t know my name.”

The look he gave you was somehow grateful and a groan all rolled into one. You didn’t hide your laugh and waited for his call to finish.

After he hung up, he came back to sit at the table. “Thanks for the save, I guess. I don’t know how that worked, but then again, it wasn’t me faking a different voice again.”

“How often do you get dragged to these parties?” you asked, using your phone to google the number for a cab company.

“Too often? Like, once half a year or so. He can’t seem to remember that I hate it and he’s determined to see me hook up,” he said, apologizing when you raised a brow at him quizzically.

Holding up a finger, you quickly called the cab company and ordered one, giving your info to the man on the phone. Hanging up, you realized you just gave most of your info to this stranger too, but hoped it wouldn’t matter.

“So, who’s going to have the pleasure of screaming my name later?” you asked him. The strange sputtering surprise noise that came out of his mouth made you laugh. “I’m not asking you home. I just meant that if your friend is going to ask about me afterwards, I’d like to know who was lying about my sexual prowess,” you explained, giving him a bad eyebrow wiggle to try and ease the situation.

“Oh, uh, I guess you can call me Mare,” he said, still a bit flustered. 

“Mare? Like a horse?” you asked, finally getting off the table and sitting across from him like a human being.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he answered.

“Good thing I’ll be riding you like one then,” you teased. At his continuous confusion, you decided to put the poor boy out of his misery. “I’m teasing. I figured that if you told your friend we were going to be fucking, I could make a few jokes. As cute as you are, I’m not planning on hooking up with you.”

“Wait, you think I’m cute?” he asked.

You shrugged. “Btw when your friend asks how the sex was, tell them that for drunken sex, it was alright. Oh, but I snore like a freight train,” you instructed him.

“Wait, what?” he asked, clearly having never lied about a sexual encounter before.

“Your friend, you know, the one you came with and just told you were leaving to go have some drunken hookup sex,” you clarified from the beginning, “is going to ask you later about the sex. Tell him that for drunken sex, it wasn’t half bad. Not mind blowing, because that’d be suspicious and not terrible because I have a fictitious reputation. Just decent and non-embarrassing. That maybe I’d be doable again. But since I snore like a freight train, you’ll have to think about.”

His face was a mix of amazement and horror. You laughed and kept going. “He might suggest that give me another go because I might only snore when drunk, but if you give me your number, I can text you some annoying, clingy, after sex texts that’ll have him telling you to avoid me. Win-win.”

“Do you help guys fake hook-ups often?” he asked, either amazed or horrified that your story sounded so thoroughly thought out.

Laughing you checked a text and saw that the cab was there. Motioning for him to follow, you lead the way out front. “No but it’s only logical. If he wants you to get laid, he will ask you about it afterwards,” you explained. 

“That…. actually makes sense,” he said as you walked up to the taxi. You climbed in and explained you would be sharing the cab. Then Mare gave his address and you stared at him.

“Seriously? You live like a block away from me,” you laughed, indicating to the driver that only the one address was needed. 

“Really? Maybe I’ll run into more often then and can hit you up for more advice on how to avoid actually dating,” he said, leaning back into the seat. 

“Maybe,” you agreed, chuckling. 

You spent the rest of the ride in silence and when the cab stopped, you split the fare evenly. 

"Alright, well, good night I guess. Have decent imaginary sex with me,“ you wished Mare as you turned to walk towards your home. 

"Uh, wait. Shouldn’t I, I don’t know, walk you home or something?” he asked. “I don’t really know the rules for post-imaginary-sex behavior. A gentleman should walk you home, right?”

You blinked for a second before laughing. “Nah, it’s fine. I literally just live up the street. No need to walk me home. But thanks. You can just imagine you walked me home and gave me an imaginary kiss goodnight if that helps with your imaginary-post-sex gentlemanliness.”

“Aww, no real kiss goodnight?” he teased.

Not sure if he finally loosened up enough to enjoy the joke or if he meant it, you tried to read his smirk. Not finding an answer, you just turned and waved. “Maybe next time. Later, lover-boy,” you called as you walked away. 

Mare’s smile widened as you turned away and he watched you cross the street. That had been easier than he thought. Humming a little tune to himself, he melted into the shadows, debating how long he should wait before bumping into you, clearly by happenstance.


	2. Who Are You?

About a week after the party, you ran into Mare at the store by the frozen pizza. Walking up beside him, you casually started up a conversation. “You know, sex is a lot like pizza,” you teased, not looking at him as you reached for a box.

Startled, he turned to you with confusion written across his feature. “Uh, who are you?”

“Oh come now, Mare. Was our imaginary drunken hookup that forgettable? I vividly recall how I had you screaming my name,” you reminded him with a wink.

It took a second before recognition hit him. “Oh! That was you?”

Faking hurt, you gasped. “Damn boy. I need some aloe. I thought you would never forget how utterly mediocre I was.” You melodramatically placed the back of your hand against your forehead, lamenting the woe that is your life.

Finally smiling, he finally chose his pizza and turned to walk with you through the store. “I must apologize, madam. I we were both *incredibly* drunk, but I don’t know how I could forget you riding me like the stallion that I am.”

“Now you’re getting it,” you replied, happy that it didn’t take him as long before he started to play along. “So, did your friend buy it?” you asked as the two of you got to the checkout line.

“Actually, he did,” he said, sounding surprised. “He even took the ‘mediocre and snores’ as enough of a reason to not have your number.”

“Oh crap! I totally forgot about getting your number for the clingy texts. But that’s good,” you said, pausing the conversation to pay the cashier.

He quickly paid for his stuff and walked out with you. “Actually, it’s made it worse. I thought he might leave me alone once I hooked up but now that he 'knows I can do it’ he is dragging me to that big Halloween thing. I even have to find a costume,” he groaned. 

“Oh, no problem. I can make this better for both of us,” you perked up. “I’m actually being dragged to the same thing because I left last time before my friend could hook me up.”

"Why are they so worried about our sex lives?“ he groaned.

"Duh! Sex is amazing and fun and means you’re the sexiest and won’t die alone,” you said, mimicking your friend’s voice. “Look, it’s simple. We simply totally-by-accident wear matching or compatible costumes. Like Link and Zelda, Jack and Sally, a flower and a bee,” you smiled at your own joke. “I’m totally the bee, by the way.”

He smiled at that. “Okay, but why? Neither of us wants to go,” he asked, still not catching on.

“Then, pretending to be oblivious, we run into each other, our friends marvel that we go together like peas and carrots, we 'hit it off’, and then just pretend to date for a few weeks.”

“I don’t want to date you!” Mare exclaimed.

“Again, ouch. But you’re missing the point. I don’t want to date you either. You’re too cute. Nah, it’s just until they leave us alone,” you explained. “If they think we are going steady with someone, we may get a few weeks freedom. Then I can have a few weeks of alone time without being deafened by crowded clubs filled with crowded music.”

He seemed to be thinking about it while you walked in silence for the last bit home. Stopping at the corner before you parted ways, you waited for him to finish thinking. 

Finally coming to a decision, he faced you and held out his hand. “Okay, we can do this. But only if we dress up like a flower and a bee.”

Surprised at his answer you eyed him. “And I’m the bee?”

“Yup. My friend will ditch me quickly if I’m dressed like a flower. So, we gotta deal, or what?”

Shrugging, you took his hand. “Alright, then see you at the party, Honey,” you said before walking away. You smiled as you heard him groan at your obviously brilliant pun.

**************

Your friend hated that your costume wasn’t sexy, so of course they made “just a few small, simple changes” to it. Your ass probably never looked better, even with the stinger attached. 

That still didn’t mean you liked it. It was too tight and clung to all the curves that you tended to hide. But being a queen bee (one of the changes was a crown) was also a little fun. Not that you were going to tell them that.

Of course, as you knew, that little bit of fun didn’t last long. You were miserable long before you got to the club. And despite the bite to the air, it was sweltering inside.

You glanced at your phone and saw the text from Mare informing you that his ‘petalled ass’ was in the techno room. So when your friend asked which one you wanted to head to, you knew what opinion to have.

You entered the flashing room and balked at the number of people. If every area was this crowded, then you were glad you had an exit plan.

You were dragged into the fray and found yourself surrounded by wiggling bodies before you had the chance to look for Mare. To say that everyone was dancing to the beat and you were swaying along was generous. It was more like a mess and you would’ve been knocked over if you stayed still.

You felt someone’s hands on your hips and a mouth next to your ear. “Save me,” they pleaded way too intimately, since you could feel their lips against your ear. You froze in a panic and turned to see who your assaulter was. 

You were greeted by a painted face that took you a second before you recognized Mare. You relaxed visibly and he turned you around, pulling you closer into him. You stiffened again and pulled back a bit, looking more closely at his costume. 

His hair was somehow defying gravity and yet still managed to look like it wasn’t glued in place. His pale face had streaks of black wispy makeup that looked like smoke and black soot was coming from his eyes. His clothes were tight and black, but his coat looked like it was made of that flouncy material that tutus were made of because it seemed to drape and float, moving without touching him.

You leaned in to ask, “What the hell are you supposed to be? Because that sure as hell ain’t no daisy.”

He moved you to dance with him, and you found that he actually knew how to keep a rhythm. “I said flower. He said that wasn’t scary, so ghost flower. Those ugly, pale droopy things? So I said black and he whipped out the damn tutu cloak,” he explained, never loosing the beat as he guided you to dance with him. 

“Well, you’re definitely terrifying,” you teased. He groaned and then it hit you. “Oh. My. God. You’re a ghost. You know what that makes us?” you asked, barely able to keep a straight face.

“Ghost flower but what?” Mare asked, his face expressing how much he was regretting asking.

You snickered, “We make a Boo-bee.” He groaned and your face split into a huge grin as you laughed until your eyes filled with tears.

You tried to dry your eyes without smearing the pound of makeup on your face, realizing that Mare had kept the two of you dancing through the whole thing, even with the song change.

As you collected yourself, your grin still spread across your face, Mare leaned in. “You know, I would ditch you here and now for that terrible pun if you were my key to freedom,” he said, the smile on his face betraying his threat.

“Speaking of, how long do we have to be so close until we can leave?” you asked. “Not to be rude, but you look better than me and my royal ass can’t handle the jealousy that Goth Princess over there is throwing my way.”

You pointed with your chin over his shoulder and he stiffened, refusing to look. “That princess is an octopus who has called me her prince about eight times too many. That’s why I was so glad to finally find you,” he said, leading the both of you further away from her through the crowd.

“Well, as long as she isn’t an ex. I didn’t agree to fight crazy,” you teased and you patted his shoulder as his expression horrified when he imagined her as his ex.

"I know Halloween is all about spooks and scares but please don’t terrify me with that nightmare,“ he pleaded.

"Hey, a Night-Mare! That’s who you should tell people you are. It makes a lot more sense than 'black ghost flower’,” you said.

He leaned forward to speak in your ear over the music and said, “For once, that’s actually a good idea.” He was smiling when he pulled back but you felt like there was an edge to it.

Before you could think about it, the abrupt change in music caused every head in the place to snap towards the sound booth. The DJ apologized for the hiccup and everything quickly returned to normal. 

You turned back to Mare as your friend finally found you again. “There you are!” they said before they noticed Mare. They glanced at you, then him, then at his hands on your hips, and back to your look of surprise. “Nevermind,” they said with the smuggest grin you have ever seen on their face. “I’ll see *you* tomorrow,” they said, pointing at you and smiling as they walked away.

Not sure how to respond, you turned back to Mare and saw what you assumed was your own expression mirrored on his face. After a beat, you both broke into a smile.

"One down, one to go,“ you said as you leaned against him to resume your previous discussion-dance pose. You asked, "Where can we bump into your friend so we can get out of here?”

He pulled back to scan the crowd and after a moment seemed to find who he was looking for. You saw him wave and point at you before giving a phone call gesture. 

You tried to follow his gaze but couldn’t see who he had been talking to. He pulled out his phone and quickly typed something before sliding his phone back in his pocket.

"Done. Let’s get the hell out of here,“ he suggested, leading you out of the building with his arm around your waist.

"Really? That simple?” you asked, disbelief written all over your face.

"And your friend was much harder to convince?“ he countered. 

"Touché,” you conceded. “So, are we splitting a Taxi again?” you asked as the two of you finally exited the building and could breathe the crisp, fresh air again.

"Nope,“ he said with a huge grin. "I drove and this time he can suck it.” The triumphant smile he wore told you how much he had been looking forward to ditching his friend.

Once outside, he let go of your waist and you were reminded of how damn cold your costume was. You wrapped your arms over your torso and followed Mare as he seemed to be enjoying that his friend just realized that Mare wouldn’t be his ride home, if his grin and chuckles as he typed on his phone were anything to go by.

You thought about how well your plan had worked and then realized that your friend was going to be expecting a full report tomorrow. You groaned inwardly and pulled out your phone to tell them that you were going home with the guy from the party. 

You were hoping that they wouldn’t answer for a while but the barrage of emojis you quickly got back meant your friend had been waiting for this text.

“I sure hope you’re a good lover because I think I’m going to regret this plan before the night is even over,” you muttered to Mare’s back as you turned into a parking lot. 

“Huh?” he asked as he stopped beside a junker. 

'Oh, yeah. Of course he has a piece of shit car. So scratch that. Already regretting it’ you thought, though outwardly all you said was, “Nothing.”

He shrugged and hit the button on his key-fob. Your face must have betrayed your thoughts, because as the car on the other side of the junker beeped, the one that looked much sleeker, Mare smiled. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything as the two of you climbed in. 

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a smoker,” you said as climbed in, the smell of smoke subtly meeting you as you buckled up.

“Oh, hmm,” he shrugged. “Bad habits and all that,” he justified absentmindedly, pulling out of the parking lot. 

“Wasn’t going to lecture. Just an observation,” you explained. 

"Like the observation that your outfit does absolutely nothing to hide how cold you are,“ he quipped without even looking at you.

You blinked at him in confusion and then looked down at your costume. Greeted by the sight of two little mountains, you blushed. "Enjoying the view?” you teased to hide how much you wanted to cover them.

You barely saw the smile on his face widen in the dim light as he kept his eyes on the road like a pro and you hoped that the blush on your cheeks wasn’t as visible as your nipples.

You turned to look out the side window, determined to ignore him for the rest of the ride. It was strange how the smoky smell in the car smelled less bitter and more relaxing with the city sliding by outside. As Mare started to hum to himself, you found yourself starting to drift off.

Snapping yourself awake, you sat up and were surprised to realize that you were pulling into your street. You waited for Mare to find a place to park and after he turned the car off, you hopped out. 

You grabbed a note that you had written before you left and handed it to him. He looked at you quizzically before opening it.

"What’s this?“ he asked as he slid the note into his pocket.

"My email address and house number. If we’re gonna do this, then we need to keep in contact,” you explained. “But I need to slip into something a little less sexual and crash for the night.”

“Good plan. Night,” he said absently as he checked his phone and waved, turning to walk in the other direction.

Rolling your eyes, you walked home and planned on a taking a good long shower before rejoining your tribe of pillows on your bed.

As he heard you walk away, Mare slid his phone in his pocket and slid the note out to look at it again. He studied your handwriting before grinning as he watched you walk away. It was almost time.


	3. I'm Ready

The morning after the Halloween party, you woke up to fine several texts. About 43 from your friend, all of which could be summed up to say, “I am so proud of you, how big was his dick?” You also had a few from other friends wishing you a Happy Halloween and one from Mare.

"I forgot to ask. Did we have sex? If so, how was it?“

You smiled and ignored the rest of your texts as you answered his. "Well, I guess that depends on the charade. If we are having a short but passionate fling, yes and pretty good. If we want this to be a longer affair, then no, we just sat up all night watching horror movies.”

You set your phone down and started to get ready for the day. Hoping your friend might leave you alone for the day, you didn’t plan on guests and only put on your lounging clothes.

The knock on the door 5 minutes later surprised you. You were luckily dressed so you just answered the door with your toothbrush in your mouth and were surprised to see Mare.

"Dude!“ you exclaimed in frustration around a mouth full of toothpaste as he came in without asking.

He quick shut the door behind him, explaining, "Sorry, but my friend said that if I didn’t have pics from my magical night, he wasn’t going to believe it. Also, he thinks I’m still over here because I told him I wasn’t at home." 

You gave him your best ‘Really?’ face before walking back the bathroom. 

He followed you, continuing, "I’m sorry! I just didn’t want to put up with him today.”

“So I have to put up with you?” you asked after rinsing your mouth out. He gave you this sort of puppy-dog, desperate pleading look and you sighed. 

"Fiiiiiiiine. So, sex or movies?“ you asked, finding his shocked face to be worth it. "Are you still here because of sex or movies? Short fling or long term affair?”

“Oh! I thought… never mind. Um…” he thought as he glanced at his phone. “Shit! I wanted it to be a short thing but now I’m thinking I’d rather him leave me alone for longer.”

“Well,” you asked, “did you tell him already that we had sex?”

“Not exactly. I implied by saying I want home with you and stayed the night,” he clarified.

"That’s fine. When he asks how the sex was, just look mildly offended and say we didn’t have sex, we just watched movies. He will be confused, and then you can say that there was a connection and you really liked me and so you decided not to end it with a one night stand,“ you explained as you led him back into the kitchen, picking up your phone as you went. You glanced at it and saw a few more texts from your friend.

"Wait. Shit! Okay, it’s good that you’re here. I need to take a quick picture of you to send to my friend to prove that you’re still here,” you said as you read your friend’s text. You quickly told them that they couldn’t come over.

“Uhhh…" 

"Great,” you said as you quickly put your phone into selfie-mode and stood by Mare, his confusion and your middle finger making it more authentic. When you friend quickly changed their mind, you knew that your day would actually be relaxing. 

Turning back to Mare, you apologized. “Sorry, that wasn’t planned. If you need a picture, I can go hop in bed and pretend to be a mess.” He raised an eyebrow and you looked down at your sweats. “Even more of one. Jesus dude, I want to be left alone, too. Don’t judge me when you come over unannounced,” you scolded. 

He glanced at his phone, saying “I guess a picture might help.” You shrugged and led the way to your room. 

You blushed as you entered, realizing your costume from last night a heap on the floor amongst other things. You climbed into bed and threw the blanket over you, messing up your freshly brushed hair with your fingers before putting on a tired face. “I’m reeaady,” you sang at him and flipped off his camera.

Mare smiled and when he confirmed that he got the picture, you quickly ushered him out of the room and into the kitchen area. 

Mare hung in the doorway and finally spoke up again as you poured yourself a bowl of cereal. “I’m sorry I barged over here. I was panicking and when you answered, I knew you were up. I figured talking was easier than texting,” Mare apologized, sitting himself down at the table.

You offered him a bowl and he declined. You put it away and sat down, loudly crunching on your cereal and playing with your phone until you forgot Mare was there. You were scrolling through your messages and muttering to yourself, as you finished your food and cleaned up, turning back to see a smirk on your house-guest.

“What?” you asked, too worn out to care.

"Nothing,“ he asked, his smirk disappearing into a look of innocence.

"Uh huh. Look, are you gonna stay here all day, smirking and hiding?” you asked, walking to your couch and plopping down as it turned on.

He plopped himself next to you, basically sitting on you. “I don’t know. What do you normally do when you’re alone?” he asked as you used your legs to push him over, his childish grin both adorable and aggravating.

“Watch TV. Surf the net. Play games. Masturbate. Whatever I want,” you rambled until you had effectively shoved him far enough away that you could comfortably curl up on the couch. 

He waited until you were comfy before leaning against you again. “Want a friend?”

You rolled your eyes and shoved a pillow at him. “Fine but you aren’t participating in any masturbation. I don’t need a friend for that,” you surrendered. 

He got a smug grin and you ignored him. “You also don’t get any say in what we watch. One sigh and I’ll kick you in the side,” you warned. He held up his hand in promise and you proceeded with your normally scheduled program. 

Mare actually wasn’t a problem and he even seemed happy to just suffer through your shows. He only outwardly grumbled when you put on a Disney movie just to test him, but after about 10 minutes in, he seemed to forget that he wasn’t supposed to like it. He even offered to buy you pizza, which you of course allowed. Who turns down free pizza?

By the time evening rolled around, you were wondering when he’d decide to call it a night. Luckily, tomorrow you also had off, so to fuck with him, you turned on a musical. To your surprise, he actually seemed happy about it. You enjoyed watching him overact the songs but found out about 30 minutes in that you were exhausted. You only lasted another 45 minutes before you fell asleep next to him on the couch, the movie still running.

When you finally passed out, Mare stopped singing and smirked. He turned off the TV and looked down at your limp form on the couch. His grinned widened. It was time to set his plan into motion. He was as ready as he was ever going to be.


	4. Where Are We?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here is the next part of that weird NateMare series I was making. I knew that I needed to make up my mind and move on with it, so I finally did. It took me while to figure out where I wanted to go with it and I *~think~* I like what I decided, but if all 6 of you hate it, this could be a separate series.

You woke up, surprised to feel a bed instead of a couch underneath you. Assuming you had just walked to bed at some point and forgot about it, you rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. However, you realized that you could hear talking, which meant Mare must still be here.  
Annoyed, you rolled back over and opened your eyes. Panic swept over you quickly as you were greeted by 3 sets of dog eyes, all staring at you expectantly.  
“Mare?!” you called, sitting up as your shout startled the dogs and they scrambled under the bed before you could get a better look at them.  
Mare and another man came in at your shout, looking for the cause of your alarm. That’s when it finally hit you that you weren’t in your bed. Now mad and scared, you stood up on the bed and pointed an accusatory finger at Mare.  
“Boy! You have about 5 milliseconds to explain just what the ever-loving FUCK is going on here before you find yourself in a never-ending world of hurt,” you threatened.  
The man with him, who looked too professional to be in this setting, smirked knowingly at Mare. “Told you,” he muttered as he adjusted his suit.  
You rounded on the newcomer, the difficulty you were having focusing on his face adding more fuel to your fire. “No one gave you permission to speak, Penguin!”  
Surprise and then amusement flashed across his face before he raised his hands in surrender. Backing out the door, you could hear his chuckle as he walked away.  
You faced Mare again, the look on your face killing the smile that had begun to form there. “I’m finding it hard to formulate the appropriate answer when you look like the wrong move from me will have you flying off that bed and tearing out my throat,” he began, trying to lighten the mood. “Will you come down and follow me so that I might explain this a bit better?”  
“No,” you answered flatly, your eyes narrowing.  
“Well, fuck,” he muttered. “You aren’t going to believe me,” he tried to argue.  
“Try me,” you answered through your clenched teeth.  
Sighing, he began, blurting out, “Fine. You’re Persephone, the Greek goddess. You are reborn every couple of centuries, lose all of your memories and I am bound by your mother to find you and bring you back to the Middle Realms each time before your powers manifest.”  
You stared at him for a beat before scoffing. “Well, you’ve got one thing right. I don’t believe you.”  
“Told ya,” he said, shrugging.  
“Okay then, smartass. Who are you in this story?” you challenged.  
“I’m a siren,” he answered.  
“Uh huh. Sure thing, little mermaid. You found the elusive Persephone and she’s ready to castrate you. Now what?”  
“I, uh…” he sputtered, shocked into silence.  
“Uh huh. Okay then, how about you let me talk to the man or woman in charge of this fiasco?” you challenge, finally climbing off the bed to stand on the floor, still putting as much threat as you could into your barefoot-and-sweatpants-ed appearance.  
He motioned toward the door his hand, but you stayed put until he went first. Glancing back at the eyes peeking out from under the bed, you followed Mare out into a hallway.  
The hallway turned out to be less of a hallway and more of a hotel with the center open, exposing the multiple floors. As you looked around, you tried to keep from gasping and staring.  
Whatever you expected to be outside the room you woke up in, you didn’t expect there to be so many people. Were they all in on it? So many people seem to be dressed in various outfits ranging from ancient to modern, their different languages melding into one unintelligible murmur.  
“Were are we?” you whispered, wanting to avoid getting the attention of any of these strangers until you knew more, preferring at least the devil you knew.  
“We are in the aforementioned Middle Realms,” Mare replied, not bothering to lower his voice. “Actually, we are in the Cross Roads, at the center of the Middle Realms, but same thing.”  
Struggling to understand, you grabbed Mare’s arm and pulled him to the side. “Mare, I cannot stress how ready I am to scream,” you stressed, quietly trying to make your point. “Where are we? What’s going on? Who are we going to meet? And did I ask what’s going on?”  
“I’m sorry, I truly am, but I already told you the truth,” he replied, speaking now equally as quietly.  
Exasperated, he leaned against the wall and grumbled more to himself than you, “You never believe me, and I have tried many times and in many different ways to explain it to you over the years, but it is never easy.”  
Looking up at you, he backtracked a bit. “Not that it’s your fault. You specifically stipulated that you were to forget everything until given the pomegranate.”  
Raking your brain, you remembered what little of Persephone’s story you could remember. She ate a pomegranate, but only six seeds, and thus was married to Hades and split half the year between her mother and husband. How do you only eat six seeds?  
“I am not marrying Hades just because some old Persephone did. I’m sure he is a great guy, but I did not sign up for that,” you blurted out.  
Surprised, Mare stared at you a second before laughing. “Noted,” he said before standing upright and leading you back down the way you were previously headed. “But this isn’t the same pomegranate.”  
Wary, you followed him around until you came to a door titled “Olympus”. He knocked and after a voice from inside answered, he held open the door for you.  
“You have GOT to be kidding me?!” You mouthed quietly.  
He shook his head and motioned once more for you to enter.  
Sighing, you straightened your back and prepared yourself to deal with whatever or whoever was on the other side of the door.


End file.
